Miners

As you know, unless you work at Blick Art Supplies, the miners rebirthed from the formless void of the depths of earth last week and are now all safely back on the surface. I’m sure many of you kept tabs and saw things and probably know more than I do. While I tried to keep up with what was going on, we watched the news at home in Spanish so it was hard to follow. So it led me to a different appreciation for what was happening.

Not being able to understand what the commentators were saying let me watch what was happening without any influences. 33 men, who were in the earth for 68 days, saw their first person from the outside world. They went from the darkest, most isolated place they could be (for even in Space you can at least see the earth) to undulating crowds of celebratory joy. Here are 33 men who are suddenly being watched by the entire world. This led to a few thoughts which I will dispense now:

How did they feel when they saw the rescue capsule for the first time. It gave me shivers when I saw it go down live. I can’t imagine how they felt.

Now how are they going to go about living. How do you put “Trapped in a mine for 68 days” on your resume? Does it go under community experience, abroad experience, or is it just mining experience?

In any case, it was exciting to be around a bunch of Chileans as events unfolded. The first night of the rescue I was up to see the first miner escape but went to bed when they sent the capsule back down. At that moment a bottle of wine was opened and my housemates stayed up several more hours to celebrate with their compatriots. Hizzah Chile!